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“Charlie Dunn died that day. He died by drowning. We know that Charlie could not swim, he did not have any armbands although the family did own some, and at the time he died neither of his parents knew where he was.

“This is not a case where Charlie had run off. Charlie had been permitted to go off by himself.

“The prosecution say that Charlie died because he was not supervised by an adult.

“He was left alone in a busy park at five years old in circumstances where there was a clear and obvious risk that he might come to very serious harm leading to his death.

“This case is not about parents turning their back for a moment whilst a tragedy occurs.

“We do not prosecute parents for unavoidable tragedies, nor do we expect perfection in parenting.

“We understand that it is not always possible to avoid every injury or every harm that a child can have.

“This is a case of ingrained and entrenched indifference. We say both parents here had a duty of care.

“This is a park with around a thousand people in it, and obviously you are not going to have your child in full sight if you are far away.

“This is a gross failure to supervise, not for seconds, not for a few minutes.

“It is for protracted periods of time, in circumstances inevitably where children were exposed to danger.”

At one point the case was forced to temporarily adjourn as Dunn, dressed in a black shirt and blue hair bows, broke down in tears and had to be comforted by Smith.

After it resumed jurors heard how witnesses Emma Hatton and her partner Gary Allden did not see Charlie with his parents for a 45 minute period.

Mrs Prior QC added: “”He[Gary] saw Charlie once, and that was because Mr Smith was shouting at him. After the shouting, Charlie walked off towards the slide by himself.